Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has reacted to the arrest of #OccupyLekkiTollGate protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate on Saturday.
Naija News had reported that operatives of the Police Command arrested over 18 protesters for defying the government’s directives to shelve the planned protest.
The Nigerian police, federal and Lagos state governments have been criticized for arresting the peaceful protesters, assaulting and dehumanizing them.
But in a statement via his Twitter page on Saturday, Atiku stated that the Nigerian Constitution empowers citizens to protest peacefully.
The former PDP presidential candidate asked the security agencies to provide a secure conducive environment for citizens to protest peacefully in line with constitutional provisions.
He wrote: “The 1999 Nigerian constitution, as amended (Section 40) guarantees the right of citizens to peaceful protest. The courts have also affirmed that right. Anything contrary to that is not acceptable and stands condemned.”
“It is the security agents’ responsibility to provide a secured conducive environment for citizens to protest peaceably in line with constitutional provisions and the African Charter on Human rights.”
Meanwhile, some Nigerians on Saturday reportedly defiled the presence of police officers at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos to resume protest against bad governance in Nigeria.
The protesters resumed, expressing dissatisfaction with the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry’s decision which allows the Lekki Concession Company to reopen the tollgate on Saturday.
“What do we want? Justice, what do we want? Justice, justice, justice,” the protesters chorused.
